Immersive Explorer is designed to be an alternative to the default file explorer included in Windows (known as Windows Explorer).It aims to provide an "immersive" experience to the user by focusing on the content rather than hiding it behind useless icons and large window chrome and borders. It will also avoid the user from having to open different applications and navigate between multiple windows when doing things as simple as viewing a picture.For example, when the user want to see a photo, instead of opening Windows Photo Viewer in a new window, the photo will be displayed directly in the Immersive Explorer window.

I actually think it looks pretty good, I'd give it a try if I had windows.

Just tested it out. (and by tested it out, I download it and ran it for about a minute or two, and messed with a few folders and some pictures.) My overall impression of it was meh... It's kind of cool to look at, but the regular windows explorer is perfectly fine for me.

we increasingly seem to be entering an age where functionality takes a very distance back seat to eye candy.

Sure - but, depending on use cases and how well pieced together this explorer replacement is, couldn't it be more functional for some users than standard explorer?

For me, it definitely won't be, and I can tell that without testing the software - I depend on xplorer^2 when I do file management, and the ability to have both single- and dual-pane operation mode is simply plain great... and in file management mode, I deal mostly with files rather than 'abstractions'.

But for Casual Joe? Something like this might be a decent thing.

Also, I kinda like the Metro visual style. It won't work everywhere, but when done properly it's damn clean and decently looking, compared to the gaudy Apple-style "let's make the ebook reader look like a wooden bookshelf" crap. I wonder if all the wasted space in the above screenshot is simply because there's not enough items on the "home screen" to fill it out, or if it's an active design decision - I hope it's the former :-)

I've worked at a bunch of different places before finally ending up as bread-and-butter programmer, and those previous places definitely didn't have a lot of techie people. Yet, the people that used computers definitely did use file managers, unless you're going to claim Explorer isn't a file manager.

Definitely not the same kind of usage that you'll see DonationCoder members doing (hence why something like the immensive explorer might work well for them), but more file management than just dropping files on the desktop.

I've worked at a bunch of different places before finally ending up as bread-and-butter programmer, and those previous places definitely didn't have a lot of techie people. Yet, the people that used computers definitely did use file managers,

Agree 100%. I've got many clients that know little more than: how to use Word/Excel/Outlook, read e-mail, and browse the web. But virtually all of them fall in love with Q-Dir within two minutes after first seeing me launch it. (They also tend to be more clever about using it than I am after a week or so of practice. )

^True. But that's much the case with many things. Funny how often those odd and unintuitive things we hear about in passing turn out to be remarkably useful and powerful once we finally get them nailed them down.

Normal non-techies would never think they needed this one. My girlfriend has owned a laptop for 5 years, but whenever I tell her to open Explorer, she goes Open what? How?. However, being a woman, she has on her own figured out how to really master her iPhone...

I really don't mind the metro ui either. I don't see what the big deal is. I'm not saying it should replace every single windows ui element, but for certain things it's kind of nice. As a launcher I think it works great. I also love the idea of customizing your screen into little rectangles for whatever you want. I mean, we have several DC applications here where we like to divide up our screen space so windows tile and lock into place in powerful ways.

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Also, I kinda like the Metro visual style. It won't work everywhere, but when done properly it's damn clean and decently looking, compared to the gaudy Apple-style "let's make the ebook reader look like a wooden bookshelf" crap. I wonder if all the wasted space in the above screenshot is simply because there's not enough items on the "home screen" to fill it out, or if it's an active design decision - I hope it's the former :-)

Agree. lol. so true. I hate seeing wood in my software, usually indicates a lack of functionality for some reason.

Your former answered your latter. A useful function, albeit unknown to the user, suddenly becomes an essential tool when the personal usefulness decrees them "nail it down".

A "non-techy" person may not have the same proclivity to go searching for better ways to do things, but when they are found or revealed, human nature takes over, faster-better-easier wins out over habit and ignorance.

I don't have anything personally against the look of Metro. Especially since I prefer "flat" icons over the more popular beveled or 3D variety. What I do object to is the way Metro works - or more correctly, being forced to toss out my current workflow just because Microsoft decided to arbitrarily change the entire user "experience" without so much as a "by your leave." And to add insult to injury, for no real reason other than to do something different to create the appearance they're somehow innovating. And don't even get me going about their closed ecosystem plan for the Metro workspace...

I completely dumped Ubuntu for showing far less hubris than that. And that was before Canonical sold out over UEFI and (more recently) started officially referring to their distro as "The Ubuntu Operating System" without so much as a nod towards its GNU/Linux roots.

I don't have anything personally against the look of Metro. Especially since I prefer "flat" icons over the more popular beveled or 3D variety. What I do object to is the way Metro works - or more correctly, being forced to toss out my current workflow just because Microsoft decided to arbitrarily change the entire user "experience" without so much as a "by your leave." And to add insult to injury, for no real reason other than to do something different to create the appearance they're somehow innovating. And don't even get me going about their closed ecosystem plan for the Metro workspace...

I think Metro will go the way of the Zune. We have a bad problem with "3 year marketing" from MS right now, where because we have to live with every day at a time, we get pummeled by their ad budget, and the related MS-Controlled-Blog-Spin with the slanted What-about-this articles.

Metro sux. Any more and I'll end up in the Basement. It's the Zune for OS. I don't know what the RIGHT answer is yet, I'm not THAT good. Only that this feels like another of their myopia-inducing campaigns, except it's not music where they went from PlaysForSure to Zune to Nothing, it's their core OS. I profoundly don't trust it. Sure there are minor usability problems in the classic Windows Explorer model, but Metro isn't the answer.